June 28, 2013 The board of Heathrow Airport Holdings is reported to have authorised its management to present its case to build a 3rd runway to the Airports Commission, in July. Heathrow is considering several options for the runway’s location. It wants the runway as soon as possible. Heathrow will also tell the Commission that they should have the option to build a 4th runway at some later date, if there is sufficient demand for it. Heathrow believes funders will be willing to stump up the £10 billion or so, with sufficient certainty of the returns on their investment. But some Heathrow shareholders are privately warning they could reassess their willingness to pay for a 3rd runway if the CAA enforces an effective cut in the airport’s charges to airlines over the next 5 years. Heathrow repeatedly emphasises that a huge hub airport is best for the airlines, as that enables them to be the most profitable. The Airports Commission has the task of ensuring that the UK retains its status as a key hub for global aviation, not merely catering for UK demand for air travel. The phrase “a world class airport for a world class city” is popular with the Heathrow lobby. Click here to view full story…

Qatar Airways to use A380 on Heathrow route from 2014

27 Jun 2013

Qatar Airways has confirmed that Heathrow and Paris Charles De Gaulle will be the launch routes for its A380 superjumbos.

The Doha-based carrier has previously hinted that it will operate the superjumbo “on popular routes, especially in slot-constrained airports”, which was seen as a clear hint about Heathrow.

Qatar Airways has 13 A380s on order, with the first scheduled to enter service early in 2014. No official launch dates or schedules have been released yet.

The airline has previously said that the upper deck of the A380 will be fitted with eight seats in first class – the only aircraft in the next three years that Qatar will fit with a first class cabin – and 52 business class seats, along with a lounge area and a small economy section.

The entire main deck will be economy class (45 seats), including the nose section, making a total of 517 seats on the aircraft. link

Noise respite trials on areas of Heathrow flight paths – results due in the autumn

June 27, 2013 Between November 2012 and March 2013, NATS conducted a trial (in association with BA and HACAN) of providing defined periods of noise respite to people living directly under the Heathrow flight paths. NATS says this is an example of using air traffic control to help reduce the burden of aircraft. The Heathrow noise respite trial explored routeing the 16 – 17 flights that arrive at Heathrow each morning between 4.30am and 6.00am. There were defined zones in the approach area above London and over Berkshire that were ‘active’ sequentially week by week. Pilots were directed by air traffic controllers to avoid flying through the zone that was active for that particular week. There were inner and outer quiet zones were established for each of the two runways which resulted in eight zones in total. Diagram below shows how the zones worked. The results, including community responses, will be available in the autumn and will indicate whether such noise respite would be beneficial in future. Click here to view full story…

Robert Peston on the CAA and airport charges: Heathrow warns of investment threat

June 25, 2013 Robert Peston explains the rows about Heathrow’s charges. The CAA has calculated how much Heathrow should charge airlines, based on how much profit it should be allowed to make over the next 5 years. Heathrow wants high charges, and predictably, the airlines want low charges. Heathrow has invested £11bn in improving its airport terminals and facilities over the past decade and is telling the CAA that not allowing an increase in its fees would make its future plans to invest £3bn “economically irrational”. Heathrow says its shareholders won’t put up the money for future necessary investment if the charges are too low – their owners would have no interest in financing new runways on the proposed level of allowable return. Robert Peston says the dispute is not likely to be settled quickly and there may be an appeal to the competition authorities. At the heart of the dispute between Heathrow and the CAA is the extent to which Heathrow is subject to risk and competition. In recent years, Heathrow’s owners, led by Ferrovial, have made no money at all, largely because of regulatory intervention. Click here to view full story…

Willie Walsh attacks 40% Heathrow price rises to airlines

June 23, 2013 Willie Walsh, chief executive of International Airlines Group, the owners of British Airways, has attacked Heathrow for applying to the CAA to be allowed to charge airlines 40% more to use the airport over the next 5 years. The CAA is expected soon to announce the new regulated costs of using the UK’s airports for the next 5 years. Heathrow has said it needs the large increases to pay for more capital investment and improving the facilities for passengers. Willie Walsh is complaining about this and making out that BA cares about lower fares for its passengers: “In the interests of air travellers, we believe it is high time these charges started to come down.” British Airways has its hub at Heathrow and has the largest number of flights and passengers there. Mr Walsh said the airport had failed to get to grips with costs and that as the only hub airport in the UK it was acting as a monopoly provider. Click here to view full story…

Heathrow report backing its case to grow as UK hub – but would need public funding for expansion

June 18, 2013 Heathrow, which is currently enjoying 4 nights of BBC programmes this week on “Airport Live” giving hours of free publicity, has had a new report published. This is called “Heathrow: Best placed for Britain” (by AECOM and Quod) and its purpose is to set out Heathrow’s case that it is far better value to the UK economy and the UK taxpayer to expand Heathrow rather than to build a brand new airport in the Thames Estuary, or expand Stansted. Also that the UK must have one huge hub airport, and no other solution will do, as the airlines will only make enough profit by using the hub. Heathrow does admit that the taxpayer will have to contribute funds for expansion plans involving at least one new runway. However, it is coy on the matter and gives no indication of how much. The report says: “Financing additional capacity at Heathrow entirely from the private sector will be challenging and will need an appropriate investment framework. The recent difficulties in securing investment for new UK nuclear power stations are a reminder of the difficulty in securing commercial finance for major infrastructure projects without an attractive and stable return.” Heathrow makes out that rejection of its proposals could consign a generation to economic stagnation. Click here to view full story…

Heathrow likely to submit 3rd runway plan to Airports Commission but unknown if they will want to “safeguard” land for a 4th

June 14, 2013 The Financial Times reports that Heathrow Airport Holdings is considering a phased approach to its expansion. That means definitely a 3rd runway as soon as it can get it. Heathrow will not rule out a 4th runway for ever (largely because it has got into such trouble in the past over previous broken promises). However, Heathrow does not know whether there will be a need for a 4th runway in any foreseeable timescale, because of the difficulty of predicting demand decades in advance. It appears no decision has been taken on whether they will ask for land to be safeguarded for a 4th runway, as that would be very unpopular and cause decades of blight and misery. The operator of Heathrow has ruled out moving away from its existing site, as expanding at Heathrow would be much cheaper. A 3rd runway at Heathrow might cost about £13 billion. Heathrow will submit its proposal to the Airports Commission by 19th July. Heathrow’s decision on what to submit will be taken by its board, which includes representatives from Ferrovial and Chinese and Qatari sovereign wealth funds. The FT suggests their attitudes could be influenced by the CAA’s proposal to reduce the fees Heathrow can charge airlines. Click here to view full story…

Greg Hands MP: Why do we fly 1,000 planes a day over London?

June 13, 2013 Greg Hands, MP for Fulham & Hammersmith, asks why Heathrow is one of the very few cities which have so many planes flying over hundreds of thousands of people, on their way to the country’s largest airports. There was a recent interview, in the BA in-flight magazine, in which a pilot said: ‘I always enjoy flying over London, because there are so few approaches over cities’. Greg Hands questions not only the noise implications, but also safety – everyone was recently reminded of the problem when the BA jet with one of its engines in flames was routed directly over London – including Chelsea, Fulham and Hammersmith. Greg says: “Thankfully, it made it back to the airport and nobody was hurt, but it again begs the question: why do we fly more than 1,000 planes a day over London?” Click here to view full story…

Demonstration of the pitfalls of polls: 2 polls. Same place. Same issue. Utterly different results

June 12, 2013 It is curious that the Hillingdon survey recently sent questionnaires to all 205,634 residents on their electoral role, and got 80,457 responses. Of these responses, 66% said No in reply to the question: “Are you in favour of more flights into and out of Heathrow? Yes/no”. Richmond Council recently also sent out 136,880 questionnaires, and 58,953 responses were received, of which 82% replied NO to the same question. Link to Hillingdon and Richmond poll results . However, in the Populus poll for Heathrow, in response to the question: “Taking everything you know into account, do you currently support or oppose expanding Heathrow?” they say that of the 1,000 or so Hillingdon residents questionned, 47% were opposed and of the 1,000 or so residents in Richmond, 51% were opposed. So with a survey size some 80 times larger, the Hillingdon response was substantially more negative (66% cf. 47%) and with a survey size some 60 times larger, the Richmond response was also substantially more negative, (82% cf. 51%). Click here to view full story…

Heathrow Airport to provide funding to set up pro-Heathrow expansion group

June 12, 2013 Heathrow Airport has announced that it will provide seed funding for a new community campaign “to provide a voice for the thousands of local people who support Heathrow”. Plans for the campaign are in their early stages but it said it will seek to establish itself and start identifying and recruiting support before the end of the year. The announcement comes on the back of polling results Heathrow released today which claims almost half the people in the boroughs closest to the airport favour its expansion. The Populus telephone poll took place between 27th February and 4th May, and questionned 6,000 residents in Hounslow, Richmond, Hillingdon, Windsor and Spelthorne. It found that 46% support expanding Heathrow, compared to 43% who oppose expansion. They say 60% of residents feel positive towards Heathrow compared to 6% who feel negatively. In reality, it is well known that the results of a poll depend on the wording of questions, and how they are asked. Previous surveys have shown most residents are opposed to expansion – and many other residents should be questioned in other boroughs to get full data. Click here to view full story…

Richmond Heathrow Campaign say Heathrow does not need to be expanded to better service more passengers, and to more destinations

June 11, 2013 The Richmond Heathrow Campaign have made a submission to the Airports Commission on making best short and medium term use of Heathrow. They say Heathrow can be improved, and the amount of aircraft noise caused by Heathrow flights reduced, if there is a (1). More even distribution of aircraft movements across each hour of the day to avoid disruption and delay in peak hours and to end night flights. (2). Increase the seating capacity of the Heathrow air fleet (i.e. more larger aircraft and fewer small aircraft), in order to increase the number of passengers per aircraft movement within the 480,000 movements limit operating in unbroken segregated mode. (3). Reverse the strategy of attracting ever more transfer passengers to Heathrow, in order to free up terminal and aircraft capacity for more terminating passengers within the legal limit of 480,000 movements limit operating in unbroken segregated mode. The Campaign says reducing 20 million transfers a year would free up runway capacity in whole or in part for around 140,000 flights a year from over-subscribed destinations to new destinations. There is a similar improvement as loads are increased from 149 to 187 passengers per flight. Click here to view full story…

Heathrow’s latest plan for southern 3rd runway “R3S” would be death to Stanwell Moor

June 8, 2013 Plans by Heathrow to build a third runway to the south west of the existing runways have met with dismay by those who would have their homes demolished, and their local area ruined. The new southern runway, already dubbed “R3S”, is regarded as both cheaper and more attractive than the northern option. Simon Calder says it would be used exclusively by smaller jets – the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 series – which are somewhat less noisy than wide-bodied aircraft. Also that the eastern end of the new runway would be located about a mile further west than the existing two runways. Arriving and departing aircraft would therefore be significantly higher when flying over the capital. Heathrow apparently also says there would be no need for a 6th terminal, as the runway could be accessed from Terminal 4 (Skyteam alliance) and Terminal 5 (BA). Much of the land on which the new runway would be built is currently covered by airport-related buildings, including cargo warehouses and car parks. Simon Calder thinks these could be re-located “with little fuss”. But the western end would encroach on Stanwell Moor, a post-war development less than a mile from Terminal 5, where residents have not been consulted in any way on the proposals. Click here to view full story…

Standard says Heathrow planning new runway to the south-west in Stanwell Moor area

June 6, 2013 The Standard reports that Heathrow is planning a new runway south-west of the airport, in one of three options that the airport will submit to the Airports Commission. The south-west runway would destroy the village of Staines Moor, and might be just north of the two large reservoirs, the George VI and the Staines reservoir. The Standard believes that Heathrow is no longer seriously considering a northern runway, at Sipson. A south-west runway might mean the demolition of fewer properties unless Stanwell itself was destroyed. Heathrow knows it can only get another runway if it can persuade enough people that the noise burden from extra flights will not be significantly larger. Therefore the airport has been trying to hard to convince those under flight paths that there will be improvements. A new runway to the south-west would increase aircraft noise for Feltham, Twickenham, Ham, Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common – where there would be intense opposition. Daniel Moylan, the Mayor’s chief aviation adviser, said: “Even to discuss this is to add a new blight to the lives of thousands of Londoners. It is further proof Heathrow expansion is environmentally and politically impossible.”

John Stewart, chair of HACAN, which represents residents under the existing flight paths, said, “This is a clever plan which Heathrow hopes might neutralize opposition amongst some of the communities and local authorities which successfully opposed a new runway to the north of the airport [eg. Hillingdon]. It would create less noise disturbance than a northern runway but we will oppose it because a whole new runway of planes will be massively disturbing to vast swathes of people across London and the South East. Flight numbers will rise from 480,000 a year to over 700,000.”

Questions asked by London Assembly about the BA plane with a burning engine flying over millions of Londoners

June 1, 2013 Richard Tracey, London Assembly Member for Merton and Wandsworth, has written to Heathrow authorities to ask why the BA aircraft with its engine ablaze was routed to fly back into Heathrow last week rather than being diverted elsewhere. Richard’s questions followed worried enquiries from Wandsworth councillors Rosemary Torrington and James Maddan who represent the riverside Thamesfield ward on the flightpath. He received a prompt response Heathrow’s Government Relations Manager: “The normal procedure in these circumstances if for the Captain to decide what is the safest course of action, and this is what happened in this case. This is an approved procedure.” Richard Tracey commented that the damaged aircraft flew over Slough, Watford, parts of Essex, Battersea, Putney, Chelsea, Fulham, Hammersmith and Hounslow. “This is complete madness. Three or four million people on the ground were put at risk and thousands of travellers from Heathrow had their flights cancelled. Incoming flights were diverted to Stansted, Luton, Cardiff, even Manston”. “We are now seriously considering taking this further , including talks with Heathrow and British Airways.” Click here to view full story…

Heathrow emergency landing of BA plane with engine on fire: Engine cowls had been left unlatched

May 31, 2013 Air accident investigators say the doors on both engines of the BA flight that made an emergency landing at Heathrow last week had been left unlatched. This was due to human error. Air accident experts said the coverings – the fan cowl doors – broke off and punctured the right engine’s fuel pipe, damaging the aircraft’s systems. The engine was extensively damaged. The jet flew back to Heathrow, on one engine, with smoke trailing from the other, right across heavily populated London. It landed safely. The findings were made in an interim report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), which is examining the cause of the emergency It will make its final report in a couple of months. The fan cowl doors on both engines were left unlatched during maintenance and this was not identified prior to aircraft departure. BA confirmed that 2 different engineers would normally check whether a plane’s engine covers had been shut before take-off. David Learmount, former pilot: “This is a bit of an accident waiting to happen because it is so difficult to see”. Airbus said there had, in the past, been 32 reported incidents of fan cowl doors not being shut. Click here to view full story…

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Remarkable absence of concern about safety of Londoners in media reports of BA plane engine fire

May 24, 2013 While a BA plane limped back right across London, flying over miles of the city and thousands or hundreds of thousands of Londoners, with one burning engine and the outside of the other damaged – the media seem not even to consider the safety aspects of the story. It seems the cause of the problem could be a technical fault with the plane, rather than a bird strike. The Telegraph writes about the large number of passengers getting away for the bank holiday weekend, and how their flights are delayed. Simon Calder writing in the Independent takes the opportunity of heading his article “Emergency landing at Heathrow sparks further controversy over London airport capacity” though he does have the decency to add one comment from a member of the public in his piece to say that “London is one of the very few cities in the world that has its main flight paths over the city. A very serious accident is not a question of if, but when.” Click here to view full story…

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Heathrow publishes commitments on noise reduction measures, such as ranking airlines on noise

May 30, 2013 Heathrow Airport has put forward proposals that aim at “reducing aircraft noise while safeguarding the UK’s connectivity”. These come in a report entitled “A quieter Heathrow” with the aim of defusing opposition to another runway (or two) by attempting to make Heathrow, as it is, a little less noisy for those who are now overflown. Heathrow’s efforts to cut noise come under the headings of quieter planes, quieter operating procedures, noise mitigation and land-use planning, operating restrictions and working with local communities. Heathrow says it will rank airlines according to how noisy their aircraft are; it will increase fines for airlines that break noise limits; it will try new plane departure routes and steeper approaches. Plans also include establishing a new noise insulation scheme for homes and offices around Heathrow. In reality, though new planes produced today are slightly quieter than older ones, the difference are not large. What those overflown notice is the sheer number of noise events. HACAN welcomed the programme of noise reductions but – the huge increase in flight numbers from a new runway “would almost certainly outweigh the benefits these measures will bring.” Click here to view full story… and

Stanwell Councillor ridicules Heathrow ‘naming and shaming’

June 5, 2013 NAMING and shaming noisy airlines and plans to fine them up to £1,000 for breaches of acceptable levels have been dismissed as a “cosmetic exercise”. Stanwell and Stanwell Moor’s new Labour county councillor, Robert Evans, has slammed the proposals, issued by Heathrow Airport on May 29 against increasing noise for people living near the runways. “Heathrow’s plans for addressing noise pollution are merely a cosmetic exercise to soften the area up for expansion,” he said. Click here to view full story ….

May 29, 2013 A charity land use and transport think tank, the Independent Transport Commission (ITC), have produced a report – to be submitted to the Airports Commission, on airport capacity. The ITC report says one major hub airport is needed, in order to compete with European rival airports. Heathrow cannot be left as it is. They say using two London airports to share the load will not do. They also say that if that hub is not Heathrow, then Heathrow would need to close, in order to give investors confidence that airlines would move their business. Closing Heathrow would have immense implications, with 114,000 people directly and indirectly employed by the airport. Its closure would have impacts on their families and the communities in which they live – but release a huge area of land (some 1,200 acres for profitable re-development….. though a town the size of Peterborough would be needed for the new hub airport. Their report follows a call for evidence last summer. The ITC’s key worry seems to be that “…we are losing that capacity to Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt [and] Schiphol and the airlines will want to use those airports.” Click here to view full story…

Damaged BA plane on one engine and trailing smoke from the other, flies right across London for emergency landing at Heathrow

May 24, 2013 A British Airways flight (BA 762) from Heathrow to Oslo was forced to turn back immediately after take off, due to what is likely to have been bird strike. The Airbus A319 was powered by two IAE V2500 engines. The left engine appears to have hit an object at take-off, which stripped off the engine cowling. The right engine then may have hit something, and there are observer accounts of a bang. The plane did a large loop around London, in order to land again, using only the left engine. Many observers saw, and recorded, the plane – trailing smoke from the right engine, as it flew right across London. The plane made a safe landing, though passengers were evacuated down emergency chutes, and there were only 3 minor injuries. Heathrow airport was disrupted for hours due to the emergency landing. While those in favour of expanding the airport are likely to use this dangerous incident to call for more airport capacity (so Heathrow can cope with incidents without delays) it would be more relevant and more responsible to question how safe it is to have disabled planes flying miles over densely populated London. Luckily this time, there was no crash. With Heathrow airport hoping to get another runway (or two) the safety issue of flying more and more planes over hundreds of thousands of people has to be confronted. Click here to view full story…

Over 100,000 residents of Hounslow, Hillingdon and Richmond vote in local polls against a 3rd Heathrow runway or more flights

May 21, 2013 Three of the local council areas most affected by Heathrow aircraft noise – Richmond, Hillingdon and Hounslow – recently carried out referendums of their residents on the subject of Heathrow growth. All three ended on 16th May. In total, well over 140,000 people responded to the polls. They voted overwhelmingly against expansion of the airport, against a new runway, and against more flights over Londoners. In the Hounslow poll, 72% of residents said they are against expansion, but 64% said they did not want to see a new hub airport built if it meant losing Heathrow. 83% of Hounslow residents were in favour of a night flight ban (11pm to 7pm) and 94% wanted better noise insulation for schools and residents living under the flight path. In the Richmond and the Hillingdon polls, 72% were against a 3rd runway, and 73% were against increasing the number of flights. The Standard says the findings of the poll are bound to be exploited by councillors as they go to the voters in next spring’s local elections. Heathrow sought vainly to rubbish the polls by saying they were voting on an outdated 3rd runway proposal. Click here to view full story…

Heathrow confirms it is not seriously considering new 4 runway airport at Haddenham (or White Waltham)

May 21, 2013 In early May there was speculation that Heathrow was considering various options for its submission to the Airports Commission. One of these – that had been seen as outline proposals by Aviation Week – was for a 4 runway airport at Haddenham (which is east of Oxford). Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd has now confirmed that this option is no longer being considered. Local MPs and residents had been furious to learn of the plans. Colin Matthews, CEO of Heathrow, wrote to local MP John Howell and said “I can confirm that we will not be proposing plans for a new airport as part of our submission”. The MP said “this should come as welcome relief to Thame and to the surrounding villages as far south as Henley who would be affected by noise from take-offs and landings.” Click here to view full story…

May 20, 2013 In its submission to the Airports Commission on making the best use of UK airport capacity in the short-to-medium term, the Board of Airline Representatives have pointed out that airlines are only experiencing capacity problems at Heathrow. Not at other airports. A survey completed by 51 of its members found 74.5% (38 airlines) had not experienced capacity problems at any UK airport other than Heathrow, while 23.5% (12 airlines) had not sought capacity at other airports. The BAR said 51% of respondents (25 airlines) said that in the past 2 years they had certainly or probably diverted flights or capacity to other countries or destinations, rather than to other UK airports, because of Heathrow’s slot constraints. Also 47.8% (22 airlines) said they were most likely to operate additional flights to another international hub or destination, rather than to another UK airport, while Heathrow remained full. The BAR says: ‘Airlines are choosing to fly to hub airports and that is where the UK must take action for the sake of the entire UK economy.’ Click here to view full story…

May 17, 2013 Both Heathrow and Gatwick airports have submitted their responses to the Aviation Commission’s discussion paper on Aviation and Climate Change. Both base their aspirations of high growth rates over coming decades on evidence from the industry body “Sustainable Aviation”. Not surprisingly, both airports’ submissions are attempts to justify the unjustifiable: to claim that emitting huge amounts more carbon dioxide can be achieved with no net emissions, by various probable and improbable means. They hope improvements in efficiency by airlines and air traffic control, as well as improved aircraft design, will cut their emissions. They place unrealistic hopes in “sustainable” biofuels, with Gatwick’s submission saying “…by 2050, sustainable fuels could offer between 15 and 24% reduction in CO2 emissions attributable to UK aviation.” Gatwick also wants considerable Government support (ie public expense) to develop biofuels for the industry. And both depend to an enormous extent on international agreements through ICAO, and systems for carbon trading that do not currently exist. Click here to view full story…

Heathrow submits its short term capacity fix ideas to Airports Commission – not much mixed mode, but adamant about 3rd runway a.s.a.p.

May 17, 2013 Heathrow has now made its submission to the Airports Commission, on how to improve airport capacity in the short and medium term. That consultation closes today (17th May). As reported earlier by the FT, Heathrow says it will not be pushing for mixed mode. However, it is keen to introduce the measures used in the recent Operational Freedoms trial ” tactically using both runways for arrivals when there are delays; using the southern runway for Terminal 4 arrivals and the departures runway for A380 arrivals” – which in reality means using mixed mode for quite a bit of the time, but calling it Operational Freedoms. The aim would be not to increase flight numbers, but to improve resilience in the event of difficulties. It also wants an end to the Cranford agreement on take offs towards the east. The Heathrow submission also wants to change night flights around, to have more arrivals between 5 – 6am and fewer arriving on both runways between 6 -7am. It wants more areas given respite periods from noise. All this in order to soften up the public so that a third runway can be built, which Heathrow sees – in its own self interest – “is ultimately required to deliver long-haul connectivity for the UK.” Click here to view full story…

May 15, 2013 Alistair Darling, who was Labour Chancellor under Gordon Brown between 2007 and 2010, is apparently keen to do that job again, if the opportunity presents itself. He has told the press that he wants this government to get on with building a third runway at Heathrow immediately, rather than wait for the Airports Commission to report in summer 2015. He was Transport Secretary between 2003 and 2007. He has been backing a 3rd Heathrow runway for many years, or another Stansted runway, and claims there is a lack of airport capacity. He has also been opposed to an estuary airport for at least 10 years. Alistair Darling wants the UK to urgently build “big-ticket infrastructure projects” such as a new runway in order “to prevent a lost decade of flat economic growth and rising debt” though quite how encouraging more foreign holidays and visits to friends and family will do that is not explained. Last October, Labour abandoned its support for expansion, when Maria Eagle, the shadow Transport Secretary, said “the 3rd runway at Heathrow is now off the agenda because of the local environmental impact”. Click here to view full story…

Heathrow may stop pushing for mixed mode or more night flights – to improve its chance of getting another runway

May 13, 2013 The Financial Times reports that Heathrow will soon make its submission to the Airports Commission, and it will not be pushing for mixed mode (ie. take offs and landings on the same runway). The Commission’s deadline for comment on ways to make better use of existing capacity is 17th May. The FT also thinks Heathrow will not be pushing for more night flights. The airport knows the extent of opposition to both mixed mode and to night flights over London. Those affected by aircraft noise hold dear their half day of respite, when flights change runway for landing at 3pm. However, this tactic by Heathrow is thought to be a calculated move in order to increase its chances of getting permission for a 3rd (and maybe even a 4th runway). The airport appears to hope it has more chance of getting what it wants, with less opposition. The fear by those already heavily over-flown is that mixed mode could increase the total number of air transport movements from some 480,000 now to around 530,000 and that could be seen as a temporary measure to increase the throughput of the airport. Click here to view full story…

London Assembly restates its strong opposition to building new runways at Heathrow

Date added: May 10, 2013

In response to the publication of the Transport Select Committee report “Aviation Strategy” today, which backs expansion at Heathrow with another runway, the London Assembly restated its view that no new runways at Heathrow should be built because of serious and rising concerns about air quality and noise pollution. The Assembly has consistently opposed proposals for Heathrow expansion on the grounds that the negative environmental effects are disproportionate to the estimated benefits it might bring to London. Already some 700,000 Londoners suffer from aircraft noise due to Heathrow, and this accounts for 28% of all the people in Europe who are affected by aircraft noise. Air quality standards in the area round Heathrow already breach EU air quality limits. The Assembly has just produced its own report on airport capacity, which concluded that as there is a large amount of spare capacity at some London airports, the Airports Commission should first look at ways to use this capacity more effectively, such as improving rail links, before considering building a new runway. Luton and Stansted Airports have around half their slots free and the airline industry should be encouraged to use this existing capacity. Click here to view full story…

May 10, 2013 The House of Commons Transport Committee gathered evidence on airport capacity at the end of 2012, to submit to the Airports Commission. They have now produced their report “Aviation Strategy” in which they say they reject “calls for a new hub airport east of London and urge the Government to permit the expansion of Heathrow where a 3rd runway is long overdue.” Its Chairman, Lousie Ellman, said “We recognise that demand for air travel across the UK is forecast to grow, believe that aviation should be permitted to expand and accept that more capacity is necessary to accommodate sustainable aviation growth.” Also “We conclude that a 3rd runway at Heathrow is necessary, but also suggest that a 4-runway proposal may have merit, especially if expanding to locate 2 new runways westwards from the current site could curb the noise experienced by people affected under the flight path.” It mentions establishing “a national scheme to ensure adequate compensation for people affected by noise from expansion at Heathrow.” The report also want HS2 to go to Heathrow; better rail links to Gatwick and Stansted; advantages for regional airports; and reassessment of APD and its effects (which demonstrates how much industry lobbying has influenced the report). HACAN said the Committee’s report was predictable. Click here to view full story…

“London First” calls for more intensive use of Heathrow runways with mixed mode in submission to Airports Commission

May 9, 2013 “London First” is an aggressively pro-growth, pro London business lobby organisation, whose stated mission is to “make London the best city in the world in which to do business.” It has sent in a submission to the Airports Commission, calling for expansion of Heathrow and the ending of runway alternation. This would mean both runways being used for much of the day, in “mixed mode”. London First believes that fitting some 10% more fights into Heathrow will solve the UK’s economic ills, and takes a dashingly cavalier attitude to the impact of the extra noise on the quality of life of Londoners overflown. They appear to either not understand how aircraft noise impinges on the lives of those under flight paths, or deliberately seek to underplay the problems, and exaggerate the small reductions in noise that aircraft manufacturers have achieved. They use noise figures from the time of Concorde to give the impression there has been a huge noise reduction. London First also recommend that Gatwick and Stansted be allowed to compete more effectively, and have better rail services, to take some business from Heathrow. Click here to view full story…

Heathrow considering a range of runway options including long & short 3rd runway, and 4 runway airport at Haddenham or White Waltham

May 3, 2013 “Aviation Week” has reported that Heathrow is considering at least 10 expansion options which are being whittled down. These “Heathrow 2025: Masterplan Options & Indicative Layouts” documents – seen by Aviation Week – were produced by the Mott MacDonald consultancy. Four of the options are a short 3rd runway north of the airport, at Sipson – or a long 3rd runway there. Another two options are for a 4 runway airport (each the same design) either at Haddenham or at White Waltham. Haddenham is about 15 miles east of Oxford, and building a vast airport there, in countryside, would mean the virtual removal of two villages, Chearsley and Long Crendon. White Waltham is a small general aviation airfield about 15 miles west of Heathrow and close to Maidenhead. The 4 runway airport design could potentially handle 140 million passengers and 800,000 air traffic movements a year, (compared to some 70 million passengers and around 480,000 movements now) – so that is just under twice Heathrow’s capacity today. The current designs are early drafts developed last year, and Heathrow will be “making its considered submission to the Airports Commission in July.” Click here to view full story…

Borough-wide consultations by Richmond, Hounslow and Hillingdon Boroughs on Heathrow expansion – end 16th May

May 7, 2013 Hounslow Council has a community consultation, called “Make Some Noise Over Heathrow” through which they are trying to assess the views of their borough residents on Heathrow expansion. Residents can comment online or via a paper questionnaire, which is being distributed to some 100,000 households. The consultation started on 9th April and ends on 16th May. Richmond and Hillingdon councils have similar consultations which also end on 16th May. Hounslow is one of the places most affected by noise from the airport, lying directly under both main approach paths from east to west, and is also affected by noise from easterly take-offs. Cllr Colin Ellar, deputy leader and cabinet member for environment, said while appreciating that many borough residents work at Heathrow, they want a better deal for all residents who suffer the environmental downsides of Heathrow, particularly aircraft noise. They want the views of residents to be heard above those of government or of Heathrow itself. The results of the consultation will be presented to the Airports Commission later in the summer. Click here to view full story…

Supreme Court rules UK Government is breaking air pollution laws

May 2, 2013 The UK Supreme Court has ruled that the government has failed to meet European air pollution limits. Britain will therefore face European fines and may have to drastically reduce the use of heavy goods vehicles and cars in some of the UK’s major cities. Much of the problem is from diesel vehicles. The Supreme Court said “The way is open for immediate enforcement action at national and European level.” The government had been challenged by ClientEarth (lawyers who work on environmental issues) because of air quality concerns in 15 cities and regions across the UK, including London ( where one area that is very bad is around the Heathrow area), Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow. The low air quality is already having a marked effect on health, and ClientEarth felt the only way to get the UK government to act on the matter was legal action. The UK has so far made repeated attempts to get the air quality limits weakened or delayed. The European Court of Justice will have to clear up some legal issues, so the UK government may be able to play for time and delay doing anything for a year or so. The infringement action to be taken has not yet been decided. This will have an impact on Heathrow expansion plans. Click here to view full story…

New book on carbon footprint of international air passengers – shows Heathrow massively ahead of any other world airport by CO2

May 2, 2013 In a new book on global aviation carbon emissions, by Dave Southgate in Australia, there are a multitude of remarkable facts. The book gives details of CO2 emissions country by country, airport by airport and airline by airline. The UK comes second globally for the amount of carbon produced from international flying, second only to the USA, and above Germany (3rd), UAE (4th) and Japan (5th). The CO2 emissions generated from flights from Heathrow are not only the highest from any airport in the world, but they are some 45% higher than the second airport, ranked by CO2. Heathrow’s CO2 emissions are some 16.4 kt CO2, compared to Dubai in second place(11 kt), Hong Kong third (10.3 kt) and Frankfurt fourth (10.2 kt). In a global ranking of size of country carbon emissions, Heathrow would occupy 4th position in the country hierarchy if it were a country. The top 10 countries constitute 50% of the global aviation carbon footprint. The carbon emissions of British Airways are the 2nd largest of any airline, other than Emirates. Many more details in Dave Southgate’s book. Click here to view full story…

Airport capacity in London is currently underused, says new London Assembly report

May 1, 2013 The London Assembly’s Transport Committee has published a report – “Airport Capacity in London” – which suggests existing airport capacity in London, including at Heathrow and Gatwick, could be used more effectively. Their research shows Stansted (summer 2012) was only 47% full; Gatwick was 88% full; Luton was 49% full. At Heathrow there is terminal capacity for 20 million more passengers, so if larger planes were used, there is ample surplus capacity – though landing slots are 99% filled. To encourage passengers to switch from Heathrow, the report says improving transport access from central London to Gatwick, Luton and Stansted is needed – for example, by better rail connections and actively promoting public transport. The report questions the alleged “need” for additional hub airport capacity, as the vast majority of passengers using Heathrow few direct, point to point, rather than transferring. The report also notes that 75% of flights from Heathrow are short haul and that London remains the best connected European city to 23 fastest growing economies. The Transport Committee hopes its report will inform the Airports Commission, and says the Commission must examine whether better use of existing airport capacity could be an intelligent cost-effective alternative to building new airports or runways. Click here to view full story…

Huge rally held against Heathrow expansion – if allowed it would face opposition on a truly massive scale

Over a thousand people attended a rally in Barnes, against the possible expansion of Heathrow. The rally was organised by Zac Goldsmith, and attended by Mayor of London Boris Johnson. Boris said he thought the Conservatives “would be utterly nuts to go into the next election with the possibility of a Heathrow third runway on the table.” [However, unfortunately Boris thinks the alternatives offered by Gatwick, Stansted and two sites in the Thames Estuary should be concentrated on. Worryingly, he seems to favour expansion at Stansted, and have little concern about aviation’s carbon emissions].Boris told the rally that a 3rd runway at Heathrow was “just too difficult to deliver – 15 years at least it would take to bring about. “Above all you would be inflicting noise pollution not just on west London but on huge parts of London that don’t even know they are going to be affected. That is not the right way forward for the greatest city on earth.” Zac said the opponents of a 3rd runway will continue to make clear their opposition to further expansion, and he wants “ministers to be left in no doubt that if they give expansion a green light, they will face a campaign on a truly massive scale.” Click here to view full story …..

April 23, 2013 Pupils at the Hounslow Heath Infant school ( children aged 3 – 7) just under a Heathrow flight path, have very loud and intrusive aircraft noise from the planes flying some 180 metres approx overhead. The problem is so bad that BAA (as it was) paid for the construction of some adobe structures in the playground, so the children can spend at least part of their time outdoors in places where they can hear each other speak. At some times of day, there is aircraft noise for 25 seconds out of every 90 seconds. Classes of up to 30 children can be seated inside the main dome, and inside the noise is reduced by some 17 decibels. Outdoor learning is valued by teachers and is also a statutory part of the national curriculum. The headteacher said the adobe structures are important as refuges because “When kids are playing they are also developing their language skills, and in the playground again they’re being interrupted.” Schools should not be located under flight paths where planes are low. Click here to view full story.

Heathrow award for top airport for shopping for 3rd year. Net Retail Income per passenger £6.21 in 2012 (£5.64 in 2010)

April 18, 2013 For the third year, Heathrow got the award (within the airports industry) for the top airport for shopping. Heathrow has over 52,000 square metres of retail space and more than 340 retail and catering outlets. Heathrow overtook Dubai International to win the title of “World’s Best Airport for Shopping” for 2012. Heathrow has the highest retail sales of any airport in the world ahead of Incheon airport in South Korea. Figures from the Moodie Report in February 2013 said that Net Retail Income per passenger at Heathrow was £6.21 (up 4.4% on 2011, partly due to the Olympics) in 2012 and £5.95 in 2011, while it was £5.64 in 2010. (By comparison the Net Retail Income at Stansted in 2012 was £4.27 per passenger). At Heathrow in 2012 the gross retail income increased +5.7% to £460.1 million. Click here to view full story…

April 15, 2013 The head teacher of an infant and nursery school directly under a Heathrow flight path, close to the airport in Hounslow, has been speaking of the impact of the planes on the learning of children at her school. Kathryn Harper-Quinn, who runs Hounslow Heath Infant & Nursery School said a recent study had highlighted the dramatic impact planes thundering 600-feet overhead have on children’s learning. Asked to recall factual details from an outdoor lesson, she said, a class of 7-year-olds could remember about a third less than those hearing the same lesson in a specially built noise-insulated hut. When the study was repeated with a fictional story, there was no noticeable difference in performance – a result Ms Harper-Quinn put down to pupils being able to fill in the gaps more easily. Speaking at the official launch of Hounslow Council’s consultation on Heathrow, she claimed a 3rd runway would blight thousands more children’s education. The consultation questionnaire contains 11 questions, and the deadline for responses is May 16th. Click here to view full story…

April 12, 2013 London Assembly Health & Environment Committee has submitted its response to the government consultation on night flights. The Committee, chaired by Murad Qureshi, says they would wish to see night flights stopped altogether, or reduced to an absolute minimum. At the margins “quieter” aircraft cut the disturbance for residents at the edges of the noise footprint so their introduction is of benefit. But modern ‘quieter’ aircraft are still loud enough to wake people & do so regularly after 4.30am, so their number should be reduced. The Committee says Heathrow should adopt a 59 dB Lden threshold for determining areas eligible for insulation, not the current 69 dB Leq or proposed 63 dB Lden. If night flights do continue, an easterly preference at night would help achieve more of a 50/50 split between directions, as at present more come into land from the east over London. Some night flights are because planes are delayed etc so the Committee suggests a reduction in Heathrow daytime number of ATMs would help, so flights do not have to be accommodated at night. They want Heathrow to work towards WHO guidelines; the objective should be to reduce the area within Heathrow’s 40dB night noise contour. Click here to view full story…

Blog by John Stewart: Can a Four Runway Heathrow Really be Quieter? (The Policy Exchange proposal)

April 11, 2013 In an interesting and detailed blog, John Stewart (Chair of HACAN) sets out what the effect will be of having a 4 runway Heathrow, as proposed by the Policy Exchange last year. Their plan is for 4 runways parallel, some 3.9 kilometres further west than the current runways, all of which could work at once. And they claim this will cause less aircraft noise for Londoners. John assesses this claim, and finds that the plan envisages up to 960,000 planes per year (cf. 480,000 now) and there would be no rest periods for Londoners during the day. Though the plan is for there to be no night flights, and for smaller planes to come in to land over London at higher altitudes due to a steeper glideslope, there is not likely to be an improvement in the noise experienced. Though smaller planes may be able to come in at a 5 degree glideslope, the noisier planes will have to continue on a 3 degree approach. What thousands of Londoners want is runway alternation and respite periods. They will not get these from the Policy Exchange proposal. Click here to view full story…

Short haul flights clogging Heathrow runways with some 25% to short haul destinations

April 8, 2013 A new study HACAN of flights using Heathrow has revealed that out of the top 10 destinations, by number of flights, only one, New York, is long haul. The rest are European or British destinations. Based on number of daily flights, New York, with 61 flights a day, tops the table. It is followed by Dublin, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris and Edinburgh. Overall around 20 – 25% of flights from Heathrow are to short haul destinations. That is around 100,000 flights (out of a total now of nearly 480,000 annual flights). Although the mix is slightly different in 2013 from earlier research in 2006, the proportion is about the same. Of the European flights, some 45% are over distances of less than 500km, which could be made by rail. Many of these journeys have the potential to transfer to high-speed rail. Due to the rise of Eurostar, flights from Heathrow to Paris have fallen from 60 per day in 2006 to 35 now. And Brussels flights have decreased from 30 to 19 in that time. It makes much more sense to use Heathrow for long haul flights, especially to the new “growth” economies. Click here to view full story…

Concern in boroughs near Heathrow about aircraft noise threat from new runways

April 5, 2013 The flight paths, and areas to be affected by aircraft noise if Heathrow was allowed to build a 3rd and even a 4th runway were revealed earlier this week by the 2M group. People in Richmond are very concerned about the even greater noise intrusion into their lives that would be caused. A Richmond Cabinet member said Heathrow expansion would make cause blight to spread to parts of the borough that are currently less affected whilst increasing the disruption for those who already suffer the burden of continual aircraft noise. Residents in Surbiton are also very concerned that their area may suffer from a large degree of noise. One resident said it would probably force her to move out of the area, and “It is greed, it is capitalism. I care greatly about the environment and we are already wrecking what we have got.” Another said the plane noise puts him off living in the area. Richmond are holding a referendum in May, as are Hillingdon and Hounslow councils, to show the Airports Commission and the industry that Heathrow is not an acceptable location for expansion. Click here to view full story..

New flight path maps from 2M, for 3rd and 4th Heathrow runways, show huge areas and up to 3 million people affected by noise

April 2, 2013 The 2M group, which represents some 24 local councils and between them some 3 million people, have released likely flight path maps for 3rd and 4th Heathrow runways. 2M estimate that while some 1 million people are affected by Heathrow noise at present, with 2 more runways, that would rise to 3 million people. Their indicative flight paths for arrivals and departures show the large areas which would be affected by aircraft noise if a northern and a southern runway were to be built . The approach across London to a northern runway would cover Mayfair, Belgravia, Sloane Square, South Kensington, Earl’s Court, West Kensington, Hammersmith, Chiswick and Brent. That would include all these parks (which cannot be soundproofed): Hyde Park, Regent’s Park, St James’s Park and Kensington Gardens. The areas which would be affected by approaches to a southern runway would be Streatham, Balham, Tooting, Wandsworth Common, Earlsfield, Southfields, Putney Heath, Roehampton, Richmond Park, Richmond town centre, Isleworth, Hounslow Heath and Bedfont. The leader of Wandsworth Council commenting on blighting the lives of 3 million people and spoiling the quiet enjoyment of huge parts of London: “The price is far too high and the benefits far from certain.” This will definitely be a key political issue at the next election. Click here to view full story…

Heathrow noise ‘hinders pupils’ reading progress’ – would only worsen with more runways and fights

March 28, 2013 Children living under the Heathrow flight path are suffering two-month lags in their reading development as a result of aircraft noise. Hounslow council says pupils in the borough have to put up with “continual disruption”, and warned the problem will worsen if the airport expands to three or more runways. Around 40 schools are directly under the Heathrow flight paths with planes landing every 90 seconds or so much of the day. The council cites an international study by London University into aircraft noise which found it led to a “significant impairment” in reading development, as well as affecting long-term memory and motivation. As well as a 2-month delay in reading, the children’s education is suffering from the continual disruption from low-flying jets. If schools don’t have triple glazing the interruptions to lessons can be relentless. One school near the airport has had shelters installed in the playground so children can escape the noise. A 2010 ECRD study suggested that chronic aircraft noise has a deleterious effect on memory, sustained attention, reading comprehension and reading ability. Click here to view full story…

London Chamber of Commerce & Industry wants Heathrow to be allowed more night flights

March 27, 2013 The London Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) has been lobbying, yet again, for a 3rd Heathrow runway. This time they are lobbying the Airports Commission, and saying that Heathrow should be allowed more night flights, because that makes the airport more efficient and there might be some economic gain for the UK. The Airports Commission is working, this year, on what can be done to improve the capacity and efficiency of UK airports in the short term. The LCCI is saying that for some not entirely clear reason, having more flights at night (and so damaging the quality of life, and the quality of sleep for several hundred thousand Londoners) will help the UK do business with BRIC countries. There is already concerted opposition to night flights, and aims to get them banned, not only in the UK but at other key European airports. The LCCI also want Heathrow to be allowed to end runway alternation, and introduce mixed mode – again hitting the quality of life of hundreds of thousands of Londoners who would lose their half day of respite from the noise. Click here to view full story…

March 25, 2013 Heathrow Airport has been saying recently that, though it is desperate to get a third runway, even they realise that there is not the demand for a 4th runway. The DfT has consistently over-estimated the amount of passenger demand over the last decade. In reality, passengers from parts of the UK other than the south east can get long haul flights from regional airports. The UK Vice President of Emirates says he wants to expand flights from UK’s regional airports, rather than Heathrow or Gatwick, and has a direct flight from Newcastle to Dubai, for transfers on from there. With that happening more and more in future, the south east airports’ dreams for expansion in the south east, requiring a massive hub airport, look less and less probable. Forecasts more than a few years ahead are based on so many uncertainties and unknowns as to be almost without value. Making best use of existing airports is more efficient than grandiose new infrastructure projects which run the risk of being white elephants. Had a second Stansted runway been built by 2012, it would now be standing idle. Click here to view full story…

Heathrow lobbying hard for a third runway again – several possible options for location

March 25, 2013 Heathrow Airport (BAA as was) is now lobbying hard for a 3rd runway, in a new campaign. It is adamant that there is a lot of unmet need, that the UK must retain the largest hub airport, that having a huge hub is vital and so on. Heathrow states that: “More hub capacity is urgently needed and whilst longer term demand forecasts are inherently uncertain, the more immediate demand case for a 3 runway hub is very clear. The longer term forecasts also show that any potential demand case for a 4th runway is highly uncertain and may not materialise.” They are working on a range of plans for a 3rd runway, rather than just the northern option, include putting the M25 in a tunnel under a runway, keeping the existing terminals and filling in reservoirs to build runways to the west of the airport, or almost doubling the length of the current 2 runways to in effect create 4. They are likely to submit plans for these to the Airports Commission. However, DfT forecasts of future passenger demand have fallen continuously over the past decade and are likely to still be over-estimates for the period between now and 2030 as capacity constraints mean passengers are shifting to other European hub airports and the focus shifts further east, to the Middle East. Click here to view full story…

Theresa May, MP for Maidenhead, has weighed into the dispute over Heathrow night flights

March 2013 Theresa May MP has joined up with fellow Royal Borough MP Adam Afriyie (Windsor) in raising concerns about a proposal from the Department for Transport (DfT) about more night flights arriving from the west of the airport over Windsor and Maidenhead. The proposal is outlined in a consultation document published by the DfT which would result in the number of night flights arriving at Heathrow from the west rising from 30% to 60%. Mrs May said: “I have campaigned against any increase in night flights, so I am concerned about this proposal. This would represent a major shift and would result in an increase in aircraft arriving at night from the west, over the Maidenhead area. . Click here to view full story ….

Possibility of more night flights to Heathrow over Windsor rather than West London

March 11, 2013 Plans drawn up by the DfT could see hundreds of night flights diverted away from the homes of 110,000 residents of the west London areas like Richmond, Kew and Hounslow, over the Windsor area. There could be an extra 1,500 – 1,700 night flights per year over Windsor, starting at 4am. About 90% of the flights at night are between 4.30am and 6.00am, waking people up and making it difficult to many to get back to sleep. The local MP for Windsor, Adam Afriyie, is concerned on the negative impact the change would have on the quality of life of his constituents. The Queen often spends weekends at Windsor, and also many weeks during the year. Under existing rules Heathrow is allowed 5,256 incoming scheduled night flights a year, so Londoners have to put up with around 16 planes overhead every night. Due to the wind direction, about 72% of the time they come from the east over London. The DfT is now considering ordering pilots to approach from the west unless a tailwind of five knots or more makes this impractical. This is part of the current night flights consultation, which closes on 22nd April. Click here to view full story…

March 13, 2013 A retired Concorde pilot called William “Jock” Lowe has been promoting his £7.5bn plan to extend both Heathrow runways from 3,900 and 3,700 metres, up to 7,500 metres – approximately doubling them. He has submitted his scheme to the Airports Commission (all expressions on intend on such projects had to be delivered to the Commission by 28th February). In the Lowe scheme (if it was to be allowed) the number of flights could be doubled, from the current cap of 480,000 per year up to about a million. This scheme is cheaper than the Leunig scheme, proposed in October, for 4 Heathrow runways, a bit further west. The rise in flight numbers could only be done by “mixed mode”, which means having planes both landing, and taking off, all day on both runways. So a plane would be landing on the eastern part of a runway, while another takes off on the west portion of it. This would mean London residents over flown would get twice as many flights as they do now, and they would lose their half a day of peace, which they get from the current runway alternation. It would be deeply and passionately opposed by thousands of Londoners. Click here to view full story…

Heathrow night flights are “inhumane” and the airport is urged to stop them

March 7, 2013 There is pressure on the management of Heathrow to justify the use of night flights. This has been discussed at the London Assembly’s environment committee. There are some 15 flights that land at Heathrow between 11.30pm and 6am every day and which activists say have an impact on 100,000 West Londoners. For many people the first plane coming in at 4.30am is their alarm clock. As well as campaigners against Heathrow’s expansion, senior local council executives say the flights are “inhuman” and there is an economic cost to sleep deprivation. Colin Ellar, deputy leader of Hounslow Council, said “even a quiet airplane is very noisy. It will wake you up when it’s still dark, you might get back to sleep, you might not.” “I’d say it’s the equivalent of a lorry coming and revving its engine just outside your bedroom window several times a night,” Heathrow say night flights boost the economy by £340m a year and by 6,600 jobs (evidence for that?) Click here to view full story…

Wandsworth Council urges residents to email minister over plane noise

15th February 2013 Wandsworth Council is asking residents to write to Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin to tell him how their lives are affected by aircraft noise. The minister is set to make changes to Heathrow flight pattern rules which will have major impacts on residents’ health and quality of life. Over the last 14 months the council has received more than 1,000 reports of increased aviation noise from local people and complaints about the strain of being kept awake from 4.30 in the morning as the first flights come in. Leader of Wandsworth Council Ravi Govindia said: “There has been no serious attempt to engage with local people over these trials nor assess the impacts of people’s day-to-day lives. “How can our residents have any confidence in a process they have been shut out of from the start? “Heathrow won’t listen so we have to go direct to the decision maker.” You can email Patrick McLoughlin at patrick.mcloughlin@dft.gsi.gov.uk Wandsworth Council is a founder member of the 2M group. The group, which took its name from the 2 million residents of the original 12 authorities, now represents a combined population of 5 million people. http://t.co/w76PYfjyuu

British Airways to add capacity to Shanghai – so one flight per day after April 2013

20 Feb 2013 BA is to add an extra frequency to its Heathrow-Shanghai service from March 31. It means BA will offer a daily service on the route for the first time. It also starts flights to Chengdu on September 22. BA now flies 6 times a week from Heathrow to Shanghai – not on Tuesday. Jamie Cassidy, BA’s general manager for the Middle East and Asia Pacific, said: “Shanghai is a very important route for BA’s customers, especially for those doing business there. We want companies from China to grow and strengthen in the UK market and for British companies in the UK to thrive in China.“This extra service will allow both countries to strengthen their economic ties and demonstrates the importance of China to BA and our commitment to grow our presence there.” BA commenced flights to Shanghai in 2005, and operates the route with a Boeing 777. Virgin Atlantic also serves Shanghai from Heathrow using Airbus A340 aircraft, with Air China codesharing on the service, while China Eastern Airlines flies the route with A330 aircraft. Link

February 19, 2013 Colin Matthews has defended steep rises in landing charges that will push up air fares by saying returns to investors now have to come first, despite a leap in revenues at Heathrow in 2012, due to record passenger numbers in 2012 and higher retail sales per passenger than in 2011. Spending on the airport facilities is to slow over the next 5 years while charges rise. Colin Matthews wants to “make a fair and market return to shareholders.” It s largest shareholder is the consortium led by the Spanish Ferrovial group, which bought BAA for £10bn in 2006, although it has sold down its former majority holding to just over a third of shares. The sovereign wealth funds of Qatar, Singapore and China own a total of over 40%, with the rest held by Canadian pension fund CPDQ and private investment firm Alinda Capital Partners. Investors had spent £11bn on Heathrow since 2003 and would go elsewhere without returns. The airport paid a dividend of £240m last year, its first since the 2006 takeover. Click here to view full story…

February 18, 2013 Colin Matthews, head of Heathrow, believes the number of hub airports in Europe will in due course reduce from its current 5 down to 3. This will happen as long-haul air traffic moves to hubs in the Middle East, which are better geographically located than the UK. Airports in Dubai and Istanbul have huge projects to increase capacity, as they are in the right locations. These emerging hub airports will “over time” divert traffic from Europe. Colin Matthew says this will intensify competition between Heathrow, Amsterdam Schiphol, Frankfurt, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Madrid. For some reason, instead of logically therefore not needing larger airports here, he implies that it means the UK has to compete fiercely to remain a huge European hub. He does say “The question at some stage will be not so much shall we have two [hubs] but how on earth are we going to be sure we have one at all? There are 27 member states in the EU, most of them do not have a hub. “It is not a birthright that we have this connectivity.” Click here to view full story…

Cross-Party letter sent to Transport Secretary – asking for final report of the Davies Commission to be published earlier

February 13, 2013 A sizeable group of MPs, peers and campaigns have joined with the leaders of nine local authorities to call on the Government to bring forward the publication date of the final report of the Airports Commission, headed by Sir Howard Davies. They have written to Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, asking for the report to be published well before the 2015 General Election. The scheduled date for publication is currently July 2015, two months after the Election. They are also calling on Sir Howard Davies to “lay out very clearly the direction of his thinking” in his interim report which is due at the end of this year. In the letter they argue that such a lengthy period of uncertainty is not at all helpful to businesses seeking to make investment decisions or indeed the wider economy of the UK. Also that the residents of West London deserve to know what implications the Commission’s recommendations will have on their lives. Click here to view full story…

Heathrow to delay 2nd phase of work on Terminal 2 till around 2019 or later

February 13, 2013 Heathrow will seek to complete and open the first phase of Terminal 2 by 2014, enabling it to close Terminal 1. But Heathrow Airport has confirmed it is delaying the construction of the £2.5bn 2nd phase of its Terminal 2 building in its latest 5 year business plan (Q6). This means building work starting at the end of the 2014 – 2019 period. The business plan says Heathrow does not now expect to complete the project until “late in Q7” – meaning it could be as late as 2024 before the building is complete. In 2010 BAA said the building, which will add capacity for a further 10 million passengers a year, would be complete by 2019. Heathrow Airport still expects to spend £3bn over the Q6 period, with investment reducing year on year over the period, from £660m in 2014/15 to £464m in 2018/19. “The next quinquennium at BAA will largely be about asset replacement rather than major new projects.” Launching the investment plans, Colin Matthews said Heathrow envisaged passenger numbers increasing from just under 70m now to around 72.6m by 2018-19 (compared with DfT forecasts of 75m by 2020 – see below). So no rapid need for space for 10 million more passengers. Click here to view full story…

Heathrow Airport produces its 5 year business plan with large rise in landing charges to pay for £3 billion investment

February 12, 2013 Heathrow Airport has produced its business plan for Q6 (which is the 6th period of 5 years, from April 2014 -2019). It plans to spend some £3 billion on infrastructure, like work on Terminal 2. As Heathrow and the CAA over-estimated the number of passengers using Heathrow over the past 3 years, their income has been lower. Therefore Heathrow plans to raise its landing charges per passenger, by as much as 30 -40% by 2019 – much more than inflation. It said its prices “inevitably” had to rise in order to ensure a “fair return” to its investors. The CAA will publish its final decision on whether it has approved Heathrow’s proposals in January 2014. Launching the investment plans, Colin Matthews said the airport envisaged passenger numbers increasing from just under 70m now to around 72.6m by 2018-19. Heathrow’s 5-year plan is separate from any decision on whether a 3rd runway is built. Maximum airport charges allowed by the CAA are calculated using a complex formula taking into account the total value of Heathrow’s assets, return on capital invested and forecast number of passengers. Click here to view full story…

Patrick McLoughlin says taxpayer will not pay £30 billion for a new hub airport

February 12, 2013 Speaking at the Commons Transport Select Committee on 11th February, the Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin said that the estimates for a new hub airport for the UK were up to £80 million. A report by Oxera reported recently that a new 4-runway hub airport could need up to £30bn of public subsidy, mainly to cover road and rail links. Mr McLoughlin called these “very substantial figures” and said “We do not generally subsidise airports . . . I am not looking for ways of spending extra money on something provided by the private sector”. Airports in the past have had public subsidies, through road building paid for by the public purse, that benefits the airport. He highlighted how much of the UK’s aviation infrastructure was privately funded. Boris gave evidence, at the same session, promoting his view that there was a need for a new hub, other than Heathrow, and this should be at one of two sites in the Thames Estuary, or at Stansted. Click here to view full story…

Head of Qatar Airlines, Al Baker, joins Heathrow board as its 2nd Qatari member

February 10, 2013 The head of Qatar Airways who has said the prospects for the UK economy would be “catastrophic” without a third runway at Heathrow has joined the board of the airport’s parent company. He joins Ali Bouzarif, who is from the Qatar Investment Authority, taking up the two seats handed to Qatar Holding in return for the 20% stake it bought in the airport conglomerate last October. The two men have been appointed to represent the interest of the sovereign wealth fund and its investment. Their appointment has not yet been announced by Heathrow, and they are not yet listed on its Board members website. Qatar Airlines is part-owned by the Qatari royal family. The appointment of Al Baker has the potential to anger other airlines, particularly rivals from the Middle East, as some may fear he may hold more sway when further slots become available. Qatar owns the Shard, part of Canary Wharf, part of Barclays, the Olympic Village, part of Sainsburys, part of the Stock Exchange, Harrods etc. Click here to view full story…

Heathrow publishes its report on Phase 2 of its Operational Freedoms Trial

February 8, 2013 The Heathrow Operational Freedoms Trials will end on 28 th February, a month earlier than planned, as enough data has been gathered. The first report on the trials was produced in April 2012. Now the second report has been published, for the period July to October 2012. It is a complicated and technical document, that is not particularly accessible to the non-expert! However, in its conclusions it says that during the trial there were (on westerly operations) about 22 extra flights on the other runway, which would not normally happen, taking the number from an average of 15 to 37 per day, as this could be done if there was a 10 minute delay trigger. They also say there was a very tiny reduction in stacking time and thus fuel burned, though this may also be due to other factors. They also say the number of complaints was significantly up, that about 80% of the enquiries were accounted for by 10% of the callers, and about 60% of the callers made contact only once. Click here to view full story…

Mixed-mode at Heathrow not likely – “means a lot of pain for not much gain”

February 5, 2013 Heathrow Airport has dropped its support for mixed-mode. The Times reports that Heathrow is not likely to be able to greatly increase the number of flights using the airport, by bringing in more mixed-mode (where planes both land and take off on the same runway). At present, one runway is used solely for take-offs and the other for landings. The roles are swapped at 3pm each day, to give residents who are over flown some respite from noise. It is thought that in its submission to the Airports Commission, Heathrow will say that even though mixed-mode could increase capacity by some 10%, it would be more trouble than it is worth and there would be a huge public backlash. Ministers had hoped that Heathrow would introduce “mixed-mode” arrangements to boost flight numbers as an interim measure. Heathrow would require a planning inquiry to increase the cap of 480,000 flights a year. That could take 3 years, even judicial review. It would also need up to 2 years to build new taxiing routes to and from terminals, to use mixed-mode. Click here to view full story…

Whisper it! Heathrow 3rd runway is losing the support of business – John Stewart blog

February 3, 2013 John Stewart, writing in a blog for HACAN (the Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise), says the enthusiasm even of the two big business organisations, the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) and London First for a 3rd runway at Heathrow is reduced. Business people tend to be realists. Many now believe that, in the real world, a third runway will not happen. All political parties are opposed to a 3rd runway. Many politicians realise, and have for some time, that a third runway is politically untenable. British Airway’s boss Willie Walsh is planning his business on the assumption it will not happen. ?A Heathrow 3rd runway cannot be the quick, relatively cheap solution business and government are looking for. Even if a new government gave it permission after the 2015 General Election it would be over a decade after that before a runway would be up and running. – and that is assuming the opposition wouldn’t kill it off a second time. Click here to view full story…

Heathrow to raise its airline charges, from current £17 per passenger, to raise £3 billion for huge modernisation

February 3, 2013 Heathrow airport will announce modernisation plans later this month. These will cost some £3 billion and cover the period 2014 – 2019. This follows a £5bn investment plan between 2008 and 2013. Heathrow is also intending to increase its airline charges, with rises in costs rising from the current level of £17 per passenger to perhaps up to £25. These rises are above the level of inflation. Heathrow says it is raising the charge because it has had 10% fewer passengers than originally predicted using the airport recently due to the recession. This means Heathrow now has to cover a £646m shortfall and it needs to make up the difference by higher charges. Heathrow airport is also still paying for investments made in the new Terminals 2 and 5. Colin Matthews, the chief executive of Heathrow, says the modernisation is needed in order to keep Heathrow as the UK’s leading airport. The investmentwill include investment in Terminals 5 and 2, as well as improving baggage handling facilities and building new stands for the Airbus A380. Click here to view full story…

January 29, 2013 Phase 2 of High Speed 2 has been announced, and the planned spur taking HS2 to Heathrow has been put on hold until after the Davies Commission’s review of Britain’s hub capacity is completed in 2015. The HS2 document says: “there would still be the opportunity to consult separately at a later point and include the Heathrow spur in legislation for Phase Two without any impact on the delivery time if that fits with the recommendations of the Commission.” This leaves uncertainty for local communities that could be blighted by the Heathrow link, and people want to know if local areas still be safeguarded and eligible for compensation. Nobody knows yet if Phase 1 will continue to be built as proposed, in order to keep options open – causing uncertainty, blight, and suffering to residents and businesses whilst leaving them ineligible for compensation. The Government has also launched a consultation on an Exceptional Hardship Scheme for Leeds, Manchester and the proposed Heathrow spur, to assist people who need to urgency sell their home or business. Click here to view full story…

Phase 2 of HS2 announced, with no spur to Heathrow – though that could be added later

January 29, 2013 The government has announced details of the 2nd phase of High Speed 2, from Birmingham north to Leeds and to Manchester. The Chancellor, George Osborne, predicted the investment would become “the engine of growth” in the north of England and the Midlands. The government is due to finalise the precise route of HS2 next year in advance of legislation in 2015 – though it is likely to be delayed by a flood of judicial reviews and court actions over the legality of the consultation process. These could delay planning authorisation, and ultimately require routes to be heavily redrafted. Instead of work on the first phase, to Birmingham, starting in 2017, it could be delayed till 2022. A planned spur taking HS2 to Heathrow has been put on hold until after the Davies review of Britain’s hub capacity is completed in 2015. The HS2 document says: “there would still be the opportunity to consult separately at a later point and include the Heathrow spur in legislation for Phase Two without any impact on the delivery time if that fits with the recommendations of the Commission.” Meanwhile, a useful piece by Christian Wolmar sets out the main reasons by HS2 is not a wise plan, and not value for money, or even of environmental benefit. Click here to view full story…

New research suggests a hub airport (eg. Thames estuary) for London cannot be built without public subsidy (? £ 30 billion)

January 25, 2013 A report by the economic consultants, Oxera, commissioned by the Commons Transport Committee has shown that a massive hub airport in the Thames estuary would only be viable if it had a subsidy, from UK taxpayers, of some £10 – 30 billion (in today’s money). Oxera looked at various scenarios, and found that otherwise such an airport would not be viable or provide the sorts of returns that a private investor would require. Depending on the airport’s design, it could cost £20 – £50 billion. The potential impact on Heathrow and other airports – and necessary compensation – were had to be taken into account, and would have an impact on a new hub airport’s commercial viability. Transport committee inquiry chairman Louise Ellman said: “The results suggest a new airport would require public investment and have considerable impact on Heathrow and other London airports. The research findings also shed significant light on the scale of investment required to deliver essential related surface transport links for any new airport. “We hope this work delivers something new to a crucial debate.” Click here to view full story…

Architects, Grimshaw, with complicated London Hub City proposal, for future airport capacity. Bit of an unrealistic muddle.

January 25, 2013 Grimshaw, a firm of architects that have offices in London, have put forward their own idea for what should happen about airport capacity in the south east. Their idea is to focus on London, the city, as the hub rather than any one airport. They want to have a 3rd runway at Heathrow, so it can deal with problems like snow, and then link London from Stansted, Gatwick, Luton and an airport in the Thames estuary, by high speed rail to London No one airport would be the main hub. They rather unrealistically anticipate that many transit passengers would want to break their journey at Heathrow, then travel into London on a special ticket on fast rail, to do a bit of tourism and spending, before getting their return flight. This scheme needs to have very efficient immigration and baggage transfer facilities to avoid being a nightmare. The report questions whether the view of the airlines, on the need for a hub airport, should dominate the planning of capacity for London. It also says that: “It is extremely difficult to predict what will happen to aviation beyond the next few years. Recent decades have demonstrated this” And it cites Stansted’s decline. However, they say “Looking ahead, we might confidently predict growth in aviation”. Click here to view full story…

Operational freedoms trial at Heathrow to end a month early, on 28th February

January 24, 2013 Operational Freedom trials at Heathrow started in November 2011 and ended in February 2012. The second phase of the trial started in July 2012 and due to go on until the end of March 2013. In November 2012, BAA announced that two parts of the trails would not take place (Phase 2, Operational Freedoms 2 and 3 – about delaying flights from 4.30 to 5.00am in exchange for more flights from 5.30am to 6am; and re-directing departing aircraft from their route sooner after take-off). Simon Burns has now announced that the trials will end a month early, on 28 February 2013. Some specific tests scheduled for March will be brought forward into February, which will accommodate the space left behind by the early morning arrivals freedom being inoperable during the trial period. Simon Burns says: “The revised end date will enable the overall analysis of the trial to begin sooner and support the government’s objective, as announced in the Autumn Statement, to bring forward the consultation and final decisions by ministers on whether an operational freedoms regime of some form should be adopted on a more permanent basis at Heathrow.” Click here to view full story…

Heathrow residents disappointed there is still no night flight ban in the DfT consultation

January 22, 2013

Commenting on the publication today of the DfT’s consultation into a new night flight regime at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, HACAN (the Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise) said is was disappointed that the Government has still not committed itself to a night flight ban. However, they have welcomed the fact that the Government is prepared to look at measures which could mitigate the noise. These include increasing the angle of descent on approach; guaranteed respite periods; changing the existing scheduling or operating bans which affect the noisiest aircraft types. John Stewart, Chair of HACAN, which represents residents under the Heathrow flight paths, said: “We are very clear that we want a ban on night flights before 6 o’clock and a progressive reduction between 6am and 7am. Many people under the Heathrow flight paths don’t need an alarm clock; the first plane wakes them at 4.30 am.” Click here to view full story…

The government has begun a 3 month consultation into night flights at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted Airports. It is calling for views and evidence on “the effectiveness of the current regime, the costs and benefits of future options and airlines’ fleet replacement plans”. The consultation closes on 22nd April 2013. Transport Minister Simon Burns says: “This consultation includes a review of current evidence on the costs of night flights, particularly noise, and the benefits of these flights. It sets out our thinking on how we would expect to appraise the policy options for the next night flights regime.” The government will publish the 2nd consultation later this year. It will include specific proposals for the new regime, such as the number of permitted night flights. The proposals in the 2nd consultation will be informed by the evidence received from this 1st stage consultation. The Dft says it aims to strike “a fair balance between the interests of those affected by the noise disturbance and those of the airports, passengers and the UK economy.” Click here to view full story…

Snow problems at Heathrow being used as opportunity to lobby for another runway

January 21, 2013 Around 2 inches of snow at Heathrow has caused many cancellations and delays to flights. Meanwhile, three inches of snow at Gatwick has not caused any significant disturbance. And Gatwick only has one runway. Heathrow claims that poor visibility conditions mean more separation distance has to be allowed for planes, and thus imply that they could do better with more runways. It seems the snow is being used as an opportunity to stress how difficult it is for the airport to operate at over 98% of capacity. However, much of the problem appears to be internal organisation within Heathrow, rather than any lack of runway space. Heathrow Airport has spent £36m on its Winter Resilience Programme since 2010 and now has 130 snow-clearing vehicles and equipment. But this does not appear to have been very effective. Gatwick spent £8 million on “snow kit”, the airport’s snow-clearing capacity is now on a par with icy Oslo, and say its snow-clearing equipment now comprises 98 vehicles, up from the 47 it had in 2011. Gatwick said the 50 cancellations it had made were all due to disruption at other airports. So don’t be taken in by Heathrow using this as “proof” it needs to expand. Click here to view full story…

Blog by John Stewart on Heathrow: “It’s the Politics, Stupid”

January 18, 2013 In a new blog, John Stewart writes that it will be the politics – not economics, noise or climate change –-that will determine where, if anywhere, new runways will be built. Many politicians now understand this. Willie Walsh of BA understands it. But it appears that those still backing a 3rd – even a 4th – runway at Heathrow have not fully understood the extent of the political opposition. Across London almost three quarters of a million Londoners are affected by aircraft noise already. The extent of the opposition there would be, on noise grounds alone, if another runway affected hundreds of thousands more Londoners, would be immense. That coalition that fought the 3rd runway plans is merely dormant, and it would come back – more confident than before with even more opposition. It has provided inspiration to campaigners across Europe – from Munich to Siena – who are now seeing off their runway proposals. The reality is that this opposition would make another Heathrow runway politically undeliverable. Click here to view full story…

More BA routes from Heathrow …. to key business destinations …. Palma and Ibiza

January 17, 2013 Anyone reading the statements from Heathrow about the capacity crisis and how there is a need for more flights to the emerging markets might be puzzled by recent news from British Airways. Back in February 2012 Willie Walsh said he planned to expand IAG into lucrative emerging markets, such as Latin America and he hoped to use the extra Heathrow take-off and landing-slots from BMI to accelerate growth into emerging markets. But BA has now announced that it is putting on new flights from Heathrow to Palma (Majorca) from March, and to Ibiza. These are in addition to Mexico and Alicante, as well as Bologna and Marseilles announced earlier. There are also new flights to Leeds Bradford (and a mention of links for business connnections) and a new flight to Chengdu in China, announced earlier, as well as Almaty (Kazakhstan), Dublin, and Seoul among others, where there is likely to be a business component. It is hard to believe there is much business benefit from weekend flights to Alicante or Palma or Ibiza. Click here to view full story…

Grow Heathrow campaigners in Sipson fight eviction at High Court

January 16, 2013 A group of young people, calling themselves “Grow Heathrow”, set up a market garden and informal community on squatted land in Sipson in 2010. The land had been derelict and was not being used by its owner, Mr Malik. He has been attempting to remove the squtters, who are environmental activists, for the past two years or more. The case for their eviction went to the High Court on Tuesday 15th January. Grow Heathrow say their case is an important challenge to the idea that landlords can leave land empty in the middle of a housing crisis. Mr Malik was given the judgement of possession in July. The basis of Grow Heathrow’s appeal is Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which is the right to have a home and family life. On the one hand, Grow Heathrow say they have added “social value” of the garden while it is wrong to keep the owner out of land for which he had paid a six-figure sum. Given the widespread importance of the issues raised by the case, Lords Justice Ward, Lloyd and Toulson are expected to reserve their decision until a later date – probably 14th February. Click here to view full story…

London Mayor’s consultation on UK airport capacity invites public comment

January 11, 2013 London mayor Boris Johnson is asking airlines, businesses and the city’s residents for their views on the alleged airport capacity shortage. The London Assembly set up its own call for evidence in December. The deadline for comment is 28th February, and there are public meetings on 15th January and 6th February at City Hall, when a range of witnesses will be questioned. On 15th January, John Stewart (Chair of Hacan and of AirportWatch) and Cait Hewitt, Deputy Director of the Aviation Environment Federation, will be questioned. Some of the issues being considered are economics, airport infrastructure, airspace, surface access, environmental impact and deliverability. The London Assembly intends this to produce their findings by May 2013, which will be submitted as their evidence to the Davies Commission. Click here to view full story…

Gatwick’s Stewart Wingate wants Gatwick and Stansted to have 2nd runways, to compete with Heathrow

January 3, 2013 The FT reports that Stewart Wingate, the CEO of Gatwick airport, has said that London should develop 3 two-runway airports to solve its (alleged) aviation capacity challenge and limit the dominance of Heathrow. He does not want a 3 runway Heathrow, or a massive Thames Estuary airport, and he expects Gatwick’s one runway to be full by the mid to late 2020s. Gatwick’s owners want a 2nd runway costing up to £5m that would open sometime after 2020, and believe it would be cheaper to build 2nd runways at Gatwick and Stansted – some £3 – 5 billion each – rather than a 3rd Heathrow runway, which would cost about £10 billion, or a much more expensive Thames estuary airport at £50 – 60 billion. He does not believe the UK needs only one hub, nor Heathrow’s arguments that it must be allowed to expand in order to support more long-haul flights to emerging markets such as the Far East. He believes airlines like easyJet could fly in passengers to connect to long haul flights from Gatwick or Stansted, in competition to Heathrow. Click here to view full story…

December 15, 2012 Ryanair, which owns 29.8% percent of Aer Lingus, in June renewed its effort to buy the rest of Aer Lingus, to boost its Irish operations. The EU blocked a previous takeover attempt 5 years ago, saying it would create a monopoly for Irish flights. Now IAG has signed a non-binding agreement to buy landing slots at Heathrow airport from Ryanair as part of its takeover bid for Aer Lingus. This is subject to EC approval, and Ryanair hopes the sale of the slots will help its bid to buy Aer Lingus. Ryanair proposed selling more than 85 % of Aer Lingus’s Heathrow slots and the FT says Ryanair has reached agreement with BA. Aer Lingus already has 23 daily slot pairs at Heathrow, which amounts to 3.5% of the total. It currently flies to Heathrow from Dublin, Cork, Shannon and Belfast. It recently tried – but failed – to get some of the 14 pairs of slots that had been owned by BMI. Let’s see if BA uses its new slots for flights to the emerging markets – or just more lucrative tourist routes. Click here to view full story…